Woman charged after child left alone in home that had no air conditioning, food, cops say

Someone heard a child screaming and called police.

When officers arrived Tuesday morning, they heard a child “yelling for help” and saw him through the rear window of the Miami home, police said.

Claudia Maldonado-Vasquez, 24, was later charged with child neglect with no bodily harm.

According to a police report, the child was left alone in the home, which did not have air conditioning, had bars on the windows and had nails on the door preventing the door from opening from the inside.

“The unit entered the premises and noticed there was no telephone, no drinking water and no food to eat,” an officer wrote.

The officer also said there was nothing in the refrigerator, which gave off a foul odor, other than expired milk.

“The house was hot, with no air conditioning, no windows open, no access to ventilation, had empty beer bottles and cigarette butts on the floor,” the officer wrote.

The child was taken into care by the Department of Children & Families.

Meanwhile, officers tracked down Maldonado-Vasquez, who according to police initially hung up the phone when an officer identified himself.

When officers showed up at the location where Maldonado-Vasquez was supposed to be, they found that she had already left. She was later stopped in her car by a patrol officer and taken to the Special Victims Unit office for questioning.

She told officers she works nights and had left the boy in the care of her cousin, according to the report. She said her cousin was supposed to drop the boy off in the morning but she had overslept and missed her cousin’s calls.

Police say Maldonado-Vasquez was drug tested by DCF and she tested positive for cocaine.

She was still in jail Wednesday night.

This story was originally published June 6, 2019 at 7:00 AM.